News

National Grid turns to Central Compressors for vital air supply

Central Compressors has supplied and installed two high-performance pressure vessels for the supply of compressed air to the Tod Point National Grid substation, which serves British Steel at Redcar in Yorkshire.

A jet of compressed air is used to quench the high-temperature arc created when a circuit-breaker within the substation operates. The vessels, built to withstand a pressure of 600 psi, are used to hold the air and release it on demand.

The existing vessels were 40 years old and were no longer serviceable. The new vessels, weighing 2 tons and 2.5m in height and 1.3m in diameter, had to be installed by crane.

Central Compressors won the tender, worth in excess of £30,000, to replace the vessels against two other bidders. The work included decommissioning and removing the two old vessels and installing, connecting and commissioning the new units, together with the air supply from the compressors.